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The COVID-19 pandemic served as a critical lens through which political inequalities became starkly visible, revealing significant inequalities in governance approaches, crisis management capabilities, and public participation across diverse political systems. This chapter examines how four key factors—political polarization, elite influence, decentralized governance structures, and institutional fragility—fundamentally shaped government responses to the pandemic, in turn exacerbating inequalities in health outcomes, economic relief distribution, and democratic participation. Through analytical examination of ten representative case studies, we investigate the structural, procedural, and epistemic dimensions of political inequality, showing how different political systems either mitigated or reinforced existing societal inequalities. In democratic contexts, political partisanship significantly influenced public health policy implementation, resulting in divergent vaccination rates and mortality outcomes across ideologically distinct regions. Decentralized political systems, exemplified by Brazil and the United States, saw partisan-aligned local governments adopt contradictory policy approaches, creating uneven public health responses within national boundaries. Across Latin America, elite-dominated policymaking processes prioritized corporate relief measures over direct citizen assistance, worsening wealth inequalities. Simultaneously, nations including Indonesia and Israel witnessed the strategic use of crisis governance mechanisms to consolidate political power, substantially reducing transparency and public accountability. Applying the Three Tiers of Inequality analytical framework, this chapter illustrates how first-tier political structures reinforced second-tier governance inequalities, which subsequently shaped third-tier public discourse and information access patterns. The pandemic clearly worsened political exclusion dynamics, diminishing civic engagement opportunities among already marginalized communities. Moving forward, effectively addressing political inequality will require comprehensive structural reforms, enhanced democratic oversight mechanisms, and policy approaches that promote equitable crisis governance, ensuring future emergencies do not further deepen systemic inequalities.

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Power in the Pandemic: Unequal Politics in Times of Crisis

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Ali Cheshmehzangi,
  • Tong Zou

摘要

The COVID-19 pandemic served as a critical lens through which political inequalities became starkly visible, revealing significant inequalities in governance approaches, crisis management capabilities, and public participation across diverse political systems. This chapter examines how four key factors—political polarization, elite influence, decentralized governance structures, and institutional fragility—fundamentally shaped government responses to the pandemic, in turn exacerbating inequalities in health outcomes, economic relief distribution, and democratic participation. Through analytical examination of ten representative case studies, we investigate the structural, procedural, and epistemic dimensions of political inequality, showing how different political systems either mitigated or reinforced existing societal inequalities. In democratic contexts, political partisanship significantly influenced public health policy implementation, resulting in divergent vaccination rates and mortality outcomes across ideologically distinct regions. Decentralized political systems, exemplified by Brazil and the United States, saw partisan-aligned local governments adopt contradictory policy approaches, creating uneven public health responses within national boundaries. Across Latin America, elite-dominated policymaking processes prioritized corporate relief measures over direct citizen assistance, worsening wealth inequalities. Simultaneously, nations including Indonesia and Israel witnessed the strategic use of crisis governance mechanisms to consolidate political power, substantially reducing transparency and public accountability. Applying the Three Tiers of Inequality analytical framework, this chapter illustrates how first-tier political structures reinforced second-tier governance inequalities, which subsequently shaped third-tier public discourse and information access patterns. The pandemic clearly worsened political exclusion dynamics, diminishing civic engagement opportunities among already marginalized communities. Moving forward, effectively addressing political inequality will require comprehensive structural reforms, enhanced democratic oversight mechanisms, and policy approaches that promote equitable crisis governance, ensuring future emergencies do not further deepen systemic inequalities.